


Mistaken identity

by killerweasel



Series: All stripped down [2]
Category: Angel: the Series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Leverage
Genre: Crossover, F/M, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-19
Updated: 2014-09-19
Packaged: 2018-02-18 00:22:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,618
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2328482
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/killerweasel/pseuds/killerweasel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Eliot discovers nothing is simple when it comes to vampires, lawyers, and matters of the heart.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Mistaken identity

Title: Mistaken identity  
Fandom: Leverage/Buffy/Angel  
Characters: Eliot Spencer, Angel, Darla, Lindsey McDonald, Spike, Drusilla  
Word Count: 2,578  
Rating: R  
A/N: AU set preseries to _Leverage_ , after _Buffy's Wild at Heart_ , and after _Angel's To Shashu in L.A._.

I knew I should have picked up extra bags of blood at our last stop. Spike couldn’t feed like a regular vampire. If he made any kind of aggressive move towards a human, the chip inside of his skull damn near fried his brains. I was reaching out to some of my military people to see if they knew a way to get it out without resulting in permanent damage, but so far they’d all come up empty.

Sighing, I turned the corner to head down an alley. Supposedly the store at the other end sold ‘unusual’ items with no questions asked, like bags of human blood. I’d barely made it halfway down the alley when someone dropped down from a nearby roof and punched me in the face.

“What was in the box, Lindsey?”

What the hell? “I think you’ve got me confused with someone else.” I ran my tongue over my teeth, making sure he hadn’t cracked anything. My jaw ached and I knew there was a bruise already forming. “I’ve never been here before.”

“Why are you wearing a glamour? You think I wouldn’t see through something like that?” His eyes narrowed as he circled around me. “This is just another trick from Wolfram and Hart to keep me off guard.”

“All I want is to get the blood I came for and you can get back to whatever the hell it is you do.” I started for the door and wasn’t surprised when he got in my way yet again. “Get out of my way.”

“No.”

This was not how I planned on spending my night. I moved at the same time he did, barely dodging the punch aimed for my face. My hand closed around his wrist and I used his own momentum to toss him backwards across the alley. The look of surprise on his face was priceless. Against my better judgment, I turned my back to him and had almost reached the door when he slammed into me. We fell to the ground in a mass of punches and kicks. I managed to get in a well-placed kick to his temple, momentarily stunning him.

That was just the chance I’d been waiting for. I ended up on top of him, pinning his body to the ground with my own. Something sharp jabbed me in the hip and I fished a stake out of his pocket. I pressed the tip of it against his chest, poking him just hard enough to keep him from moving. His body was coiled underneath mine and I didn’t doubt for a second that he could kick me halfway across the alley if he wanted to.

“What is your fucking problem?” I leaned in closer so our noses were almost touching. “Do I even smell like this Lindsey guy?” Swiping at the cut on my lip with my free hand, I held out a crimson-coated finger just shy of his mouth. “Go ahead, taste it. Then you’ll know for sure you’ve got the wrong person.”

When he didn’t make a move, I sighed. “Look, I smell like Spike because I’ve been taking care of him for the past month and a half.” He frowned at me. “This woman, she has dark hair and is kinda batshit. She tells me she needs someone to rescue her... I don’t know, her son from these military fucks in Sunnydale. I say I’ll do it for free because what details she gave me, they chilled me to the bone. I don’t care if you live off of blood or squids or pizza. No one should be treated like that.”

“Drusilla?” His body began to relax and I slid off of him to rest on the cement. “What military group? What the hell are you talking about?”

I described the things I’d seen, heard, and smelled, pausing a couple of times when he asked me questions. The more I talked, the angrier he got. “Where is he now?”

“We’re staying in a hotel a couple blocks from here. I got a call from an old friend who had a job for me to do.” The job had paid very well and I’d splurged on one of the more expensive hotels. “He’s doing better, but he’s got a long way to go. At least you can’t see his bones any more.” I shuddered.

“I want to see him.” It was a demand and I found myself bristling.

“How about I ask him if he wants to see you first?” I got to my feet, dropping the stake on the ground. “I don’t even know who you are.”

“Angel.” He pulled a card out of his pocket. “If he says yes, call me at that number.”

I took it from him. “All right. I’m going to go get what he needs now. See if you can restrain yourself from attacking me again for a little while.”

Angel snorted. “It’s been a while since anyone held their own against me. You’re pretty good.”

“I try.”

\---

I leaned against the wall and for what had to be the tenth time, I wondered how I’d let another vampire talk me into doing something for free. The guard was coming back; I could hear his footsteps on the tiled floor. I waited for the right time before moving from where I was waiting and knocking him out. It wasn’t very difficult to do since he was young and inexperienced. As I tied him up and locked his unconscious ass in the janitor’s closet, I wondered why they would only have a single guard protecting whatever it was behind that door. Angel had implied this thing was a big deal, that they’d used some very powerful magic to bring it here. If it was so important, then why weren’t there more guards? Or maybe they didn’t think anyone would be able to track it down. A smile crossed my lips. They hadn’t expected anyone like me to come along.

It took me three tries to find the right key to the apartment door. I slipped inside and looked around. Seemed like a typical apartment. However, the lack of personal items made it seem a little off. A noise from the bedroom made me pause. I had no idea what I was going to be dealing with. This whole demon, vampire, creatures of the night crap was new to me and just because I knew it was there didn’t mean I wanted to see all of it first hand.

As I drew closer to the bedroom, the sound changed from whimpers to sobs. It was despair, loss, confusion, and fear all rolled into one. I leaned my body just far enough to the left to peer inside. A blonde woman was hunched on the edge of the bed with her head in her hands, sobbing quietly. Angel hadn’t told me what I was supposed to do when I found out what the contents of the box were and I wasn’t sure if I needed to get a name or what. But my mama had raised me right and I wasn’t about to just leave someone like that without seeing if there was something I could do first.

My shoe bumped the wall and the woman sat up quickly. There was fear on her face followed by recognition. The second emotion made no sense to me since I’d never seen her before. “Lindsey? You said you wouldn’t be back until Saturday.” I took a couple steps forward and her eyes widened. “Oh. I thought you were someone else.”

“I seem to get that a lot around here.” That was interesting. She knew the guy Angel had mistook me for in the alley. “Are you okay?”

She laughed and the hairs went up on the back of my neck because the laughter was just shy of being sane. “Yes. No. I don’t know.” This was followed by another laugh which turned into a sob. “How do I know what okay is any more? Everything’s different. It hurts.”

Maybe I needed to get her to a doctor. I had no idea what her captors had done to her. Crossing the room, I stood next to the foot of the bed. I waited a couple of seconds before sitting down next to her. When she didn’t object, I shifted my body a little closer to hers. “What hurts?”

“My soul.” It was just two words, but they were so heavily laced with emotions it was like having a bucket of cold water dumped on my head. “How old do you think I am?”

“I learned a long time ago it isn’t polite to ask a lady her age.”

That earned me a real laugh. “What would you think if I said I was over five hundred years old?”

At first I thought she was joking. This was a living, breathing person, not a vampire. Then I saw she was very serious. “I’d say you look damn good.”

She reached out, curling her fingers around my wrist and moving my hand to her chest, resting my palm just above her heart. “I didn’t think being reborn would hurt so much. They brought me back from where I was, pulled me out of that place, and when the pain stopped, I was trapped inside of a box. Do you know how hard it is to learn how to do the simplest of things again when you haven’t needed to do them in hundreds of years? And through it all, there’s this constant ache inside of me, eating me from the inside out, reminding me of all the things I did from before.”

“Is there anything I can do to help?” I was seriously thinking about simply taking her out of here and back to the hotel. She didn’t seem entirely stable and whatever the plan was for her, I doubted it was something nice.

I gave her a smile as she studied my face. My hand was still on her chest and she slowly released my wrist so I could pull it away. “Who are you and why are you here? I don’t get very many visitors besides Lindsey and I know you’re not a lawyer.”

“I’m Eliot Spencer. Someone sent me to find out what was in the box.”

“Angelus.” The word was barely above a whisper and I had to strain my ears to make it out.

“He said his name was Angel.” I frowned. “Tall, broody, throws a nasty right hook?”

“That’s my darling boy.” She rubbed her throat. “I made him what he is today. He killed me, you know. After all we’d been through he chose her over me and sent me to that place.”

I blinked. Why would a law firm want to use her to get to him? It had to be some kind of revenge. This situation was getting more complicated by the minute and my brain was starting to scream to me about getting the fuck out of here before it got worse. How could it get any worse?

Turned out I got my answer sooner rather than later because I heard the front door to the apartment open. My body went tense. Maybe there’d been another guard after all. Or maybe they’d sent someone to see what was wrong when the unconscious one didn’t respond.

“Darla? Are you okay? Alan’s not answering his phone.”

She squeezed my arm. “That’s Lindsey. I think you should go.”

“I could take you with me.” Footsteps were coming down the hall towards the bedroom. The shoes sounded expensive. Guy must be a lawyer. I should be able to deal with him and leave without too much of a problem.

“They’d come after you to get to me.” She cupped my cheek with her hand. “You did what you came for. Go.”

Fuck. I got up from the bed and headed towards the window. I’d just shoved it open when the lawyer came into the room. “Darla? What’s going...?” He saw me and our eyes met for a moment. I could understand why they thought I was him. “Who the hell are you?” I got one final glimpse of him before I went out through the window into the night. We weren’t exactly alike. We had different hair, slightly different build, and I had both of my hands. I’d seen anger in his eyes, like he was fueled by a rage he could barely keep under control. That was someone I wouldn’t want to piss off. They’d do whatever it took to get revenge.

\---

“Darla’s alive.”

“That’s the name the guy said.” I handed Spike the bag of blood from the microwave and watched Angel pass back and forth across the hotel room floor. “She called you Angelus. And she said that you killed her.”

Angel went dangerously still. When Spike grabbed the blood and took off for the other room, I thought about following him. “You talked to her?” I started to nod and then he was on me, driving me back against the countertop with his hands twisting the collar of my shirt. “Are you sure she’s human?”

I brought my hands up, knocking his loose. “I heard her breathing. Touch me again and you’re going to be very sorry. I fucking mean it.”

He ran his hand through his hair. “And Lindsey was with her?” Angel growled something nasty under his breath.

“He showed up to check on her.” And the only reason someone would do that was if they’d cared about the other person. Oh. We both must have reached the same conclusion since he slammed his hand into the wall, shattering the plaster. “I take it you two aren’t best buddies?”

“Maybe he’s doing it to get back at me for taking his hand.” He shook his fingers, scattering plaster dust everywhere.

“I was going to bring her back with me but she told me not to.” I straightened up. “She’s... not well. How can someone’s soul make them hurt?”

Angel jerked away from me. “It gets worse than that. The memories associated with it are enough to drive someone crazy. Believe me, I know.” He started for the door and paused. “I have to go.”

“Don’t do anything stupid.” As soon as the words left my mouth, I wanted to take them back. He was going to do something reckless and foolish; I could see it on his face. Angel shot me a glare before vanishing out through the door.

He hadn’t bothered to shut it and I muttered something under my breath about asshole vampires as I walked over to close it. Just as I was about to swing it shut, someone stepped out of the shadows in the hallway. It was the woman who had introduced me to a world I’d never known existed before. What had Angel said her name was? Drusilla? She giggled. “Daddy is very cross. But he’ll be ever so pleased to see Grandmummy again. The naughty lawyers want my help to make her what she was.”

Daddy? I raised an eyebrow. “Are you saying what I think you’re saying?”

“We’re all going to be a big family again.” She clapped her hands with glee. “The stars told me it would happen.”

“Spike’s in the bedroom.” I stepped to the side so she could come in. “What about me? Is this over now?”

“Over? It’s just begun.”


End file.
